


12 Days of Christmas 2019 Day 8

by PatchworkIdeas



Series: GatheringFiKi 12 Days of Christmas 2019 [7]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, But mostly just a fun quirky look into another world, Fluff, Gen, LITERALLY, Light Angst, maybe a bit of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-20
Updated: 2019-12-20
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:13:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21874972
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PatchworkIdeas/pseuds/PatchworkIdeas
Summary: Kili had seen plenty of tunnels in his life - and walked through all of them.He had no doubt he would find the right one someday.
Relationships: Fíli & Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: GatheringFiKi 12 Days of Christmas 2019 [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1569745
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: GatheringFiKi - 12 Days OF Christmas 2019





	12 Days of Christmas 2019 Day 8

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by GatheringFiKi's & damnitfili's gorgeous Photoset! 
> 
> Posted here with permission, and can be found on Tumblr [here](https://gatheringfiki.tumblr.com/post/189777375945/12-days-of-christmas-day-8-special-thanks-to)

* * *

The town on the other side of the tunnel was not his own.

The snow was his first clue.  
The abrupt change in architecture the next.  
And the suddenly empty streets rounded out the picture. 

If not for the snow, he might have, for a few seconds at least, considered that the difference in building style might just be a different neighbourhood.  
There were plenty of cities where you could turn a corner and think you landed in another world all together. 

But there was snow, and he had nothing but a T-shirt, jeans and his favourite leather jacket, perfect for the late spring day he had just come from.

The sensible thing most people would do would be to turn around, retrace their steps, and go back to their flat - perhaps checking if someone had spiked their drink.

Naturally, he did the opposite.

Fili had always loved that about him. Said it kept things interesting.  
Fili wasn't here anymore, missing, lost, no body ever found, but he kept living by it nonetheless, doing what he wanted, believing what he wished, and refusing to accept a death that hadn't happened and that nobody could prove.

He traveled a lot, living the dream he and his brother had, making photos and memories and writing letters that had no address.  
Eventually people started calling it his coping mechanisms and stopped hounding him about therapy and what not.  
He didn't need it.  
Fili was still out there, on his own adventure, and was hopefully keeping just as many mementos and journals and maps of distant places to share when they finally met again.

Kili idly wondered if this would be the time, like he always did when he walked through yet another tunnel.  
The streets may have been empty, but that didn't mean much.  
He had seen the strangest places during his travels, and this was tame compared to that.

The most wondrous one so far had still been that bubble world they had found when Kili was 14; during their family's beach vacation, on the other side of an underwater tunnel he and Fili had found.  
They were both good divers and Kili hadn't been able to resist the temptation.  
Fili, as always, had followed. 

What they found hadn't looked like a cave, all open skies and flowing pools and thin glass bridges crossing chasms, little birds with leather wings flying in the distance.  
They hadn't dared travel very far from the tunnel entrance, Fili always the responsible one, and eventually his older brother had insisted that they return so that their family wouldn't worry.  
He had told Kili to go first, like he always did. The tunnel had been too small for the two of them by then.

"I'll be right behind you. See you on the other side."

And Kili was still looking for the other side, like he had for years, like he had since he turned around and found the tunnel gone.

He had found several tunnels since then, and evolved a kind of sense of how long a particular one would remain open.  
The most obvious sign was the size of it - a tunnel would get smaller over time, until eventually closing all together - but there was also a kind of buzzing in his bones when time was running out. He had thought it excitement the first time, but knew the signs now. 

And this time, he had plenty of opportunity to explore. 

He wandered through the snowy streets, enjoyed the quiet which he so rarely encountered and window-shopped a bit.  
Despite how nice and warm the little shops and their fur coats looked, he knew better than to enter through any more doorways by now. Just because all portals from his world appeared as tunnels, didn't mean the same was true everywhere else. 

Eventually he saw the tip of a giant tree behind some of the buildings, light shining out into the rising dusk.  
It was as good as any destination before the cold drove him back to his own world, to transfer the photos and make another post on his blog. 

He wasn't the only one aware of the tunnels, though most considered them little more than an elaborate conspiracy theory, due to the fact that most people seemed unable to see them at all.  
Those like him kept in contact as much as they could, mentioning new locations, how long they would most likely stay open and any particulars about the other side - like who lived in it.  
There were plenty of people lost in his world trying to find theirs, maybe as many as people looking for lost ones of their own.  
The network helped both and spanned all kind of worlds, though it was generally considered smart to stay close to your own unless you wished to become lost yourself. 

The tree was magnificent, all golden lights and glistening baubles and tiny fairies flitting from one branch to the next.  
Some inhabitants then.  
Though the architecture was strangely human sized and shaped for such tiny beings.  
He had just taken some photos of his new discovery when some of the fairies lifted, showing the golden hair that had been hidden underneath.  
More and more of them left, like butterflies fluttering away, until a lone human figure was revealed, standing in the cold in nothing but a thin white shirt and shorts.  
The man swore, arms wrapping around himself, and called after the beings that had kept him warm, before turning around, scowling, looking for what had disturbed them in the first place. 

The scowl fell away at the same time as Kili's phone slipped from his fingers. 

They met in the middle, Kili with a flying leap at his brother that had both of them landing in the soft snow.  
In a few minutes, Fili's shivering would lead them to Kili's apartment and warmth and stories shared.  
But for now, they were right where they wanted to be.

**Author's Note:**

> [My Tumblr](https://patchworkideas.tumblr.com/post/189780751280/gatheringfiki-the-following-ficlet-was-written)


End file.
